Emerging Adults, Emerging Inequality: The Gendered Division of Domestic Labour among Student Households

Abstract

My thesis illustrates the fundamentally unequal division of domestic labour among student households. Until now, emerging adults were an overlooked group in the sociology of housework. While there is a myriad of studies on heterosexual couples’ approaches, the critical period between childhood and adulthood had been ignored. Emerging adulthood is particularly critical in the development of housework routines as it is when independence is experienced for the first time and habits from one’s upbringing may be disregarded or embedded. With university becoming an increasingly common destination for emerging adults, my study draws upon the experiences of 150 undergraduate students navigating domestic labour in a mixed-gender household to fill the gap in literature. Through the detailed analysis of quantitative and qualitative survey and interview data, my thesis contributes to the creation of a more complete sociology of housework. Participants revealed the deeply gendered nature of their housework arrangements, with female students undertaking a disproportionate physical and cognitive burden. This inequity was acknowledged by participants however few male students viewed it as a problem warranting intervention. Instead, they provided several justifications in an attempt to defend this distribution. On the other hand, female students found housework to be a source of stress and tension. Accordingly, many female students sought solutions, ranging from introducing a rota, to abstaining from housework themselves. For some, their encounters with domestic labour in a mixedgender setting were so negative that they vowed to live only with other women in future university housing. In highlighting the detriment caused, and strategies pursued, by students confronted with emerging domestic inequality, my thesis introduces a novel perspective to the sociology of housework.